About Me

I was a reporter and columnist for 40 years for a chain of newspapers in the suburbs of Chicago. I'm a military veteran having served in the United States Army Combat Engineers (Cpl. E-4) and a Korean War veteran with an Honorable Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States of America

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

President Bush is making plans to ask Congress for another $70 BILLION dollars to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush also is laying the groundwork for a plan to circumvent Congress and work out a deal with the Iraqi government so the United States military will be in Iraq for the next 50 or more years.

Meanwhile, Australia has announced they are pulling all their troops out of Iraq, and Great Britain has reduced their troop strength in Iraq from 7,000 to 2,000 with more cuts coming very shortly.

The United States, which has 160,000 troops in Iraq, and 30, 000 in Afghanistan, will be left carrying the bulk of the security operations in both countries.Bush told Congress during his SOTU address Monday night that conditions were improving in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Apparently Bush can't read, or nobody is telling him about what is happening in both countries, or maybe he just enjoys telling lies to the American public. He knows Fox News will never call him on it, but someone in the media should be reporting what is really happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

My blog CORKSPHERE http://corksphere.blogspot.com/ is devoted to telling the American public what the mainstream media is NOT telling them about Iraq and Afghanistan. Bill Corcoran, editor and host of this blog dedicated to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.ROCKETS SMASH INTO "GREEN ZONE" IN IRAQVIOLENCE IS ON THE RISE ALL ACROSS IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN

Baghdad:#1: a bomb exploded on Saydun Street along the Tigris river in the centre of Baghdad as an Iraqi army patrol was passing, wounding six civilians and four soldiers.#2: Three policemen and five passers-by were wounded in another bomb attack about 30 minutes later in the neighbouring district of Karrada. Two of the wounded later died in hospital#3: In the Sunni district of Yarmuk in western Baghdad, three more civilians were wounded in an explosion3 civilians injured in an IED explosion in al-Dakhiliya neighbourhood, al-Yarmouk, south Baghdad at 10:30 am.#4: two more people were hurt when a mortar round crashed on the eastern neighbourhood of al-Fadliyah.#5: A female suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt hidden under her black robe at a checkpoint, killing at least two women and wounding five.A female suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt hidden under her all-encompassing black robe at a checkpoint Tuesday in Baghdad, killing at least two women and wounding five, police said. The attack occurred just after noon as women were being searched in a room before being allowed to enter a commercial street in the predominantly Sunni Amariyah neighborhood in southwest Baghdad, according to police officials.A bomb exploded at a checkpoint Tuesday in Baghdad, wounding five American soldiers and three civilians, the U.S. military said. Iraqi officials claimed it was a suicide bombing and said two people were killed. The attack occurred just after noon as women were being searched before being allowed to enter a commercial street in the predominantly Sunni Amariyah neighborhood in southwest Baghdad, according to a local police official and an Iraqi army officer. Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a U.S. military spokesman, said initial reporting indicated it was not a suicide attack but a bomb that was left at the checkpoint and later detonated. He said no deaths were reported, but five soldiers and three civilians were wounded. The Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said a female suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt hidden under her all-encompassing black robe at a checkpoint. A policeman said two Iraqis were killed in the attack but the report could not be independently verified.#6: An IED targeted an American military patrol in Canal St. east Baghdad. No casualyies reported.Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told VOI that an explosion occurred on the main road of al-Qanah Street in Zayouna neighborhood, eastern Baghdad, but nothing was known about the blast or its results. One eyewitness told VOI plumes of smoke were seen rising from the scene of the explosion, prompting security forces to seal off the area.#7: In Baghdad, at least two Katyusha rockets landed inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the Iraqi parliament and U.S. embassy, but there was no immediate indication of casualties or damage, police said. Diyala Prv:Muqdadiya:#1: Nine bodies and 10 severed heads were found on Tuesday in an abandoned field north of Baghdad in a region where U.S. and Iraqi forces are pressing ahead with offensives against al Qaeda forces. Police made the gruesome discovery of the bodies and severed heads in a field in Muqdadiya, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad in Diyala, one of Iraq's northern provinces where U.S. and Iraqi forces are fighting Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.Iskandariya:#1: One man was killed by gunmen who attacked his house in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.Taji:#1: Abbas Jassim al-Dulaimi, a tribal leader who organised a neighbourhood police unit in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, was killed by a bomb planted in his car on Monday, another Taji tribal leader said. Several of Dulaimi's bodyguards were detained after the blast, he said.Dalouiya#1: Three elementary schoolgirls were killed and two others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off on Tuesday on a road that leads to their school in al-Dalouiya district, a police source in Salah al-Din province said."A home-made explosive charge went off on a road that leads to al-Inshrah primary school in al-Huweija al-Bahariya village, (5 km) west of Dalouiya, killing three girls and wounding two others while on their way to their school," the source, who preferred not to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of IraqSulaiman Pek:#1: Gunmen attacked the convey of a local governor, wounding one of his gaurds, in a village near the town of Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.Tikrit:#1: A source in Tikrit University, who asked to remain unnamed, told VOI that security personnel at the Faculty of Law found an IED planted near the dean's office on Tuesday morning."The police were called and the IED was defused," the source said.Mosul:#1: A suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. patrol Tuesday in Mosul, killing at least one Iraqi and wounding as many as 15, military and police officials said. The attacker on Tuesday detonated his explosives-laden car, wounding 10 Iraqi civilians about 11 a.m. in a predominantly Sunni area in eastern Mosul, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information. The U.S. military said no American casualties were reported but one Iraqi had been killed and 15 wounded in the attack. The different Iraqi casualty tolls could not immediately be reconciled.#2: In a separate incident on Tuesday near Mosul, 390 km (240 miles north of Baghdad, unidentified gunmen killed two off-duty police and wounded two others, police said. Al Anbar Prv:Fallujah:#1: “Four missiles landed in the U.S. army base, located 3 km east of Falluja, on Tuesday,” a Falluja police officer, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). He added, “The missile, launched from the southern and eastern sides of the base, landed in the middle of the base where billows of smoke were seen spiraling upward. ”The U.S. side was not available to comment on the incident. A short time later, four U.S. helicopters were seen hovering over Falluja for 25 minutes.Afghanistan:#1: A missile destroyed a suspected militant hideout in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 12 people inside, officials said. The air attack occurred after midnight in Khushali Torikhel, a village in North Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, intelligence and government officials in the region said. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.#2: In other fighting Tuesday, one soldier was killed in South Waziristan, a neighboring region along the border, the army said in a statement. Twelve insurgents were arrested in the area, it said.#3: In another area of North Waziristan, four members of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary were injured when assailants fired several artillery rockets at a military base, said a local intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.Casualty Reports:May 7, 2007, Baghdad: Lt. Col. Gregory Gadson is driving back from a memorial service..."Then I saw the flash, it was instantaneous out of the corner of my eye. We have a noise canceling intercom system with our vehicles, He was evacuated within 45 minutes by helicopter to a hospital in the Green Zone, and doctors needed 70 pints of blood to save his life. The injuries to both legs were severe, though. Both had to be amputated.Sgt. Kenneth Lee Cate III, 23,-- A suicide bomber detonated behind me, shattering my right leg with shrapnel, and peppering my left thigh and back. And then when I tried to get up I was shot through the right arm. My injuries hurt most days, but only enough to left me know that they're there.Cpl. Ryan Dion, 23, of Manchester, who had his right leg amputated at the knee after he was hit by a missile in Fallujah in April.Staff Sgt. Terry Rathbun, 36, of Norwich, who was shot in the arm and face.Sgt. Eddie Ryan, 24, of Ellenville, N.Y., who suffered a severe brain injury after he was shot twice in the head.Army Staff Sgt. Jack Auble, 43, suffers from severe osteoporosis of the spine, bulging discs and compression fractures.Spc. Garrett Summers, a Squad Automatic Weapon gunner from Eureka, Mo., was wounded in his left arm while on a combat patrol to counter improvised explosive device activity. Summers' platoon conducted a ground medical evacuation, and he arrived at a medical facility within 12 minutes of the attack. After suffering a wound from a 9 mm submachine gun during the enemy encounter. He is a Soldier from 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment has been awarded a Purple Heart Medal for an injury he suffered as a result of small-arms fire while on patrol in eastern Baghdad Jan. 1.

The "coalition of the willing" fighting the war in Iraq has been reduced again as Australia has announced they are pulling their troops out of Iraq

Great Britain has already reduced their troop size from 7,000 down to 2,000.

That leaves the United States military to continue to fight the Iraq war with only a handful of small countries lending support troops.

Because most of the "coalition of the willing" have left Iraq, President Bush is planning on asking Congress for another $70 BILLION to fight the Iraq war.

By Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE http://corksphere.blogspot.com/, the only blog dedicated to reporting on what the mainstream media no longer reports--the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Australia Announces Troop Withdrawal From Iraq

http://tinyurl.com/29gqca1/29/2008 12:32:01 AM In a severe blow to US efforts to bring about stability in war-torn Iraq, Australia has announced its decision to withdraw its military troops from the country.

The announcement comes even as President George Bush in his last State of the Union address said that the al-Qaida is on the run in Iraq.Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith conveyed his country's decision to US secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary Robert Gates and Vice President Dick Cheney on his first official visit to Washington since Kevin Rudd Government's election last year.

"We came to office in November last year with our longstanding commitment that we would withdraw our combat troops from Iraq by the middle of this year," Smith said."I advised the Secretary of State that when the current rotation from the Overwatch Battle Group is completed in the course of the first half of this year, those troops will be withdrawn," he said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration will ask the U.S. Congress next week for $70 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and related operations for part of the 2009 fiscal year, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The new request is likely to set up another battle with Democrats who control Congress and are critical of President George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war. Congress has yet to approve most of Bush's fiscal 2008 war funding request.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the administration probably will not submit another war funding request after this one before leaving office next January. That would make war funding one of the first issues facing the next president.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Congress has approved $691 billion to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and such related activities as Iraq reconstruction, the Congressional Budget Office said last week.

Of the total, the CBO estimated that $440 billion had been spent on the war in Iraq.